Youngest drummer's father faces prison

The father and grandmother of the Macomb Township youngster dubbed the “world’s youngest drummer” are facing prison time for their role in a scam that federal prosecutors say bilked investors out of millions of dollars.

Bernadino Pavone and his 75-year-old mother, Gloria Tactac, both entered into a plea bargain agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit in 2011 and are now scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 17, according to court documents.

“(The) defendants are charged with acting together to devise and execute a scheme to defraud,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade wrote in a court document.

Pavone is the father of Julian Pavone, 8, who last month was certified as the world’s youngest professional drummer in the 2013 Guinness Books of World Records. Bernadino Pavone, also a drummer, has presented himself as his son’s manager in past interviews.

Advertisement

Federal investigators say Bernadino Pavone and his mother, a Plymouth resident, along with co-defendant Abood Samaan, were part of a scam that operated from 1996 to 2004, when they were indicted.

Pavone allegedly created a “magic disc,” a computer software program that he claimed could erase negative entries on consumer credit reports by electronically accessing computer databases. The disc was sold to consumers through a multi-level marketing system, which resulted in the defendants receiving millions of dollars.

“(The) case boils down to a fairly simple, straightforward theory of the scheme to defraud: the defendants, in various ways, lied to customers and representatives of their companies, ICR Services and NCER, by telling them that the companies had a ‘one of a kind’ software program that could erase negative entries on consumer credit reports,” McQuade said in court documents.

Tactac and Pavone helped devise the “credit repair” scheme, and Samaan invested some $750,000 into the con, federal prosecutors said in court records.

Pavone did not return a phone call for comment and his attorney, Brian Legghio, could not be reached. Harold Gurewitz, the attorney for Tactac, declined to comment.

Online court records show the case has languished in court for years as the defendants have filed numerous pre-trial motions. In fact, in one document, McQuade said the delays were “highly unusual.”

“Beyond being charged in a detailed indictment, the defendants have been given extraordinary access to the government’s evidence and trial strategy,” she said in a brief.

Federal prosecutors have agreed to drop dozens of other charges against the defendants if they settle their existing cases with Internal Revenue Service for profits illegally gained from the sale of the disc.

According to Pavone’s plea bargain, he faces between eight and 10 years in prison and a minimum $15,000 fine, but his sentence will be capped at 97 months. Tactac, who faces between four and fives years and a minimum $7,500 fine, would have her prison term capped at 48 months.

Restitution will be determined at sentencing.

Pavone, a Plymouth native who has landed patents on other inventions, apparently has been in trouble with the law before.

In 2002, he wrote an autobiography titled “Some Saw Mud, I Saw Stars,” which is described on Amazon.com as a tale of his “life story from prison to the head of ICR Services.” While living in California, he reportedly was neighbors with Eddie Murphy and was able to get editorial testimonials for the book from actor Robert Culp and retired Shelby Township District Judge Herman Campbell.